Sweet Nightmares
by white willows
Summary: Lucy has got to prove to her self and everyone that shes strong and an important part of the team.But how can she stop relying on people when her whole fighting style requires her to do just that? lucyxgray written from episode 48 stand point
1. Chapter 1

The light was bright to Lucy as she woke up to find herself tucked neatly into bed. '_How...how did I get home? Was it all just a dream? No it couldn't have been I remember… Loke.' _Lucy remembers her last few hours of consciousness. The job was so simple. 5,000 jewels to help lady Atsuko fall asleep. That's why she wouldn't let Natsu come; she thought if she didn't do at least one job on her own she would never be taken seriously.

Even though Lucy had already been accepted into the Fairy Tail guild she still felt weak. That thing that… _he_, said on her last job with Natsu and Gray. What he said, about celestial wizards.

She had to prove to the guild, to her team, and even to herself that celestial wizards are just as capable as other wizards. That they do get stronger, she was not going to let _him_ get away with calling her a _hoarder_ wizard.

"Come on Lucy don't be like that!" Natsu teased "You can't let that bastard get under your skin…and anyways you have to let at least me and Happy come."

"Oh yeah? And whys that?" Lucy asked slightly teasing but also truly curious.

Natsu raises a playful fist with a grin, "Because if this chick won't doze off in any conventional way you'll need someone to give her a little motivation."

"Aye!" Happy agreed.

Mortified, Lucy yelled, "Now you two are defiantly not coming."

"No fair! Ezra won't let us go on a job alone while she's gone on that S class job and we are _not_ going on one with _Gray!" _Happy whined while trying to grab the job request from Lucy's grip, ripping the bottom left corner from the flyer. "…Ooops!"

When Lucy final reached lady Atsuko's house she was ready for an easy job. Holding a bag filled with assorted herbs and teas, warm milk, and of course her keys. Lady Atsuko was a middle aged woman with extremely wonderful manners and an elegant wardrobe. She was thin but not too thin. Lucy couldn't see anything wrong with her what so ever.

"Well I guess it's time to get to work" Lucy said with a yawn. Lady Atsuko walked them to the bedroom and climb into bed. "Lucy I know it's an odd request, paying that much to get help sleeping but…it's not that simple."

'_Oh no' "_Don't worry; ill have you snoring in no time! Just leave it to me_." _Lucy pulls out a silver key. "Summoning spirit of the harp… Lyra." Lucy cheers as she swipes the silver key through the air.

"Lyra I need you to play this lovely lady a lullaby please."

"Of course" Lady Atsuko's eyes open wide as she sits up and yells to _stop_.

"Lucy you need to listen to me, you can't play me a lullaby. You need to use another way or…" Lucy interrupts her and explains that while other lullabies might not work, Lyra here is a celestial spirit specifically for this situation. Before the Lady could protest further Lyra began to play a soft and beautiful lullaby that could probably make even Gray cry.

The small lump in the sheets where the lady was hiding soon began to grow until the lady was no longer even human. She began to mutate and morph into some kind of blobby creature the likes that Lucy had never seen before. "Sorry Lucy but do you think you could close my gate?" As Lyra evaporated away Lucy pulled out a new key.

With a swift swipe of the golden key Lucy had Taurus at her side. '_I don't understand, this was not on the job request…or maybe it was and I just didn't get to see it- Ugh I am so going to kill that stupid cat!'_

"Taurus I need you to put that _thing_ to sleep, actual sleep!"

"Yes Miss Lucy!" Taurus gawked back at Lucy with wide, wondering eyes.

The next few moments were a bit hazy to Lucy but she did remember thinking she was going to die. With her keys on the ground and her being squished to death between this creatures finger's she thought she had no chance. She screamed for one last hope "LOKE!"

Then Lucy was in her room…Lucy sat up and looked around to check if Natsu or Grey found their way into her house again.

"Good you're awake." Loke said, startling Lucy.

"How are you here right now? How am I here right now?"

"Calm down...celestial spirits cannot close the gate unless both parties agree to. Though I can come and go on my own magic to help you even when you can't summon me, I feel I should stay at your side until you don't need me anymore."

"Thanks but what makes you think I need you while I'm asleep?" Lucy asked puzzled.

"You tell me, after I brought you home I was about to leave when you started talking to me." Loke sat on the bed next to Lucy, "Well I'm not sure if you were talking to me or about me but you kept saying things like 'Help Loke' and 'where are you Loke' and I decided it might be a good idea to stay and make sure you made it through the night."

"Awe thanks that's very sweet of you." Lucy said, hiding her embarrassment.

"So were you having a bad dream or something?"

"Uh-uh, no not that I remember…but anyway I'm really tired and as you can see I'm just fine so I think it would be okay if you went home now." Lucy said anxiously. "Alright ...oh and stop dropping these everywhere okay?" Loke smiled playfully and tossed Lucy her keys and was gone.

Lucy sighed. '_Why do I keep having that dream? What does it mean?'_

She looked down at her keys. "I could really use someone to talk to right now."

"Then let's talk." Gray said walking in from the kitchen.

"AH! HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN IN THERE?"

"Like 15 minuets…Lover boy let me in."

'_I'm going to kill you Loke' _

"So what you want to talk about?" Astonished by the fact that Gray was listening, Lucy looked down at her keys.

"Nothing." She said fondling Loke's Key.

"How was that sleeper lady job? You get her to snooze off?"

"Uuuuuhh…I forgot all about the job!" Lucy grabbed Loke's key and summoned him back to her room.

"Um Lucy, didn't I just leave?"

"Yes but I forgot to ask…what happened last night?"

Loke looked at Lucy and then Gray and then back at Lucy.

"Guess that everyone that's tried to get her to sleep attempted to use a lullaby. Turns out you're the first one to not run off when she turned into that monster."

"Yeah but why did she turn into that monster?"

"My guess is it was a note-hex."

"What the hell is that?" Grey asked from the corner of the room. Loke sat at the foot of Lucy bed and explained.

"It's a spell casted on someone by a hex mage. Seems she must have gotten on ones bad side because every time she heard a single note of music she would turn into that monster. The thing a lot of people don't know is when the spell is activated by the music it takes just that to deactivate it for good."

"That sounds too easy."

"It's an extremely basic spell used more as a prank but I guess nobody knew what to do after she turned so they ran. That's probably why she asked Fairy Tail to help her sleep. She most likely expected the wizard to eventually sing her a lullaby and when a Fairy Tail wizard sees a monster they don't turn and run away."

"I guess that makes sense."

"_Oh_, Lucy that reminds me, you don't worry about paying rent this month."

"Why?" Loke reached in his pocket and pulled out a small bag. "5,000 jewels, after I turned her back, right before she dozed off. She reached under her bed and handed me this. She told me to give it to that cute girl from Fairy Tail so I assumed she meant you.

Lucy's face filled with a huge grin and she jumped at Loke and tackled him to the floor. "Thank you so, so much. What would I do without you?" Lucy squealed.

Natsu started to laugh so hard he fell over, "So are you telling me you _sang_ that thing to sleep?" Natsu and Happy laughed even harder.

"Well yeah, and that's the reason Lucy here is still alive." Natsu's face went blank and then fell into a small pout. "She never would have been in danger if she would have just let me come." Lucy jumped.

"How did _you two_ get in here?" she yelled in surprise.

"Through the window." Natsu deadpanned, like it was obvious.

"Hey has Erza come back from her job yet?" Gray asked.

Natsu cringed at the sound of her name and glanced at Gray. "I sure hope not."

Gray rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Why, what did you three do?" Lucy said glaring at Natsu and Happy.

"Well Natsu kept buzzing in my ear about being hungry and broke, so we took a job."

"So? I thought Natsu and Happy weren't allowed to go on a job alone?"

"Yeah, well we took the job and we had to take down these creeps that were using some kind of animation magic to commit crimes with their statues. Well long story short we took them down but we destroyed the town in the process." Gray explained as he took a bite of bread from Lucy's cabinet.

"Then why are you eating my food?"

"Well…" Grey smiled in attempt to lighten the mood. "We had to use the reward money to pay back the town and we were still coming up a little short so the master had to pay the rest?"

"How much did he have to pay?" Grays grin dropped "um only a couple hundred jewels."

Just then the door swung open and Erza stood in the doorway. She assessed the room finding only a tangled Lucy and Loke lying on the floor. "Lucy, it seems that you've finally fallen victim to Loke's boyish charm."

Lucy and Loke stood up in a scramble. "No its nothing like that, I just…"

"It's none of my business what you do with your spirit friends. I'm looking for the boys, Cana told me she saw Gray coming over here earlier this morning."

"Yeah they're…" Lucy looked around the room to see nothing but a half eaten loaf of bread and an empty Raman bowl on the floor. "Um I don't know." Erza looked around the room and began to walk out just to turn around quickly and grab at a blue and white thing dangling from a kitchen cabinet.

She held up Happy by the tail. "Come on out Natsu." Natsu crawled out from under Lucy's bed and grabbed Happy from Erza's iron grip. "Hey Gray get out here, if I'm going down I'm taking you with me."

Gray came out from behind the door, slightly squished by it, and muttered, "Bastard."

"Well I think that's my que. Lock the door when you leave." Lucy called as she and Loke walked out the front door and headed toward the guild.

Loke soon went back to the celestial world, allowing Lucy to think back to her dream.

_She glanced around to find her whole team out cold in the rubble created by the battle. She looked back to see a weakened but still fighting giant serpent slithering its way to Lucy. She used all her strength to reach for her whip and strike out at the snake as she ran in a panic. Lucy was so weak from summoning almost all of her spirit's that all she could think to do is find some fire or something a get Natsu back up. The next thing she knew the snake was flying through the air and she thought it was all over. She braced herself for the impact when Loke kicked the snake out of the air. _

"_Oh Region, lend me your strength!" Loke chanted, causing a lion's head made of light to burst out from the magic circle and easily destroy the serpent that took down Lucy's friends. Loke walked over to Lucy and grabbed her hand, and pulled her to her feet._

"_What would you do without me?" Loke whispered to Lucy's limp body. She dropped weakly to the ground. Loke caught her and settled her on her knees. He crouched down to her. "Are you okay?" Lucy mumbled something that he just couldn't make out._

"_What is it?" Lucy used all her strength to press her lips to Loke's ear and whisper something that shocked even her. "I love you, Loke"_

"Hey Lucy, what are you thinking about all googaly eyed over there? It's not a boy…is it?"

"What?" Lucy sputtered in surprise at being awoken from her daydream, "Oh, uh, no it's nothing I'm just tired, that's all."

"Are you sure you're not thinking about a guy? Is it someone from the guild? Is it Gray? I thought I saw him going to your house this morning."

"Yes Lucy…_Is it Gray?_" Juvia says in a scary threatening tone.

"No it's nobody; I swear I'm not having issues with any boy on the planet." She yelled quickly, waving her hands in defense.

"Alright but just remember if you ever need advice…"

"Advice? Advice on what? Your longest relationship has been with a barrel of alcohol."

"Well maybe there's just nobody around here worth my time."

"Alright that's enough, after Erza coming home I'm full on fighting for today."

Cana looked at Grey with a disappointing glare "Gray your Clothes."

"_AGH!"_

"Gray...what the hell you are doing!?" Macao shouted, running over from the other side of the guild and whacking Gray over the head, "You _**never**_ break up a catfight. Great, now I'm bored again."

Gray, pissed, kicked him in the stomach.

"What the hell was that for?"

"For hitting me you moron!"

"Guys stop." Lucy said as she giggled. Cana grabbed Lucy's wrist.

"Didn't you hear him Lucy...You never break up a cat fight!"

"HEY!"

"Hey Gray...want to do a job together? Just you and me?"

"Um sure I guess...but why?"

"Well I've gone in jobs with Natsu and Happy and to be honest I'm kind of afraid to go on a job with just Erza and besides I think it'll be fun?"

"Um Gray?" Lucy suddenly squeaked.

"HUh what's up?" Gray asked turning around to face Lucy.

"HELP!" Juvia was pulling at Lucy's hair.

"What's your problem? What are you trying to pull? Getting alone time with my beloved!"

"No it's not like that we're just friends...please stop."

"Juvia calm down ...uh um why don't you come along?" Juvia drops Lucy and she falls to the ground.

"Okay!" Juvia chirped happily.

"Thanks!" Lucy slurred out dizzy and confused.

"So Lucy what job do you want to do?" Lucy stood up and brushed herself off.

"Hmmm let's see... destroy the moon? Ha-ha he's still on that? Umm find my daughter, cut down a tree-"

"Hey Lucy what about this one!?"

Lucy read the job description, "There's a giant snake terrorizing our town. _'Huge giant snake? The dream! Loke. What if the dream is more than just that?' _

_"_Let's do it! There's nothing like killing a giant snake to get your creative juices flowing."

"Creative juices? What do you mean?"

"You're writing a book aren't you?"

"Oh yeah well…"

"Then it's settled...giant snake it is! What you think Juvia?"

"I think that spending time with you is great no matter what we're doing!" Juvia squealed clinging to his bicep, hearts in her eyes.

"So how big do you think this snake really is?" Lucy asked nervously.

"I don't really know, it doesn't say on the job description." Gray said nonchalantly.

_'Ugh why are these things always so vague?' _Lucy thought, annoyed.

"Hey Juvia." Gajeel shouted, walking up to them.

"Huh?" '_What does Gajeel want? Does he need my help?' _Juvia thought curiously. _"_What is it Gajeel?"

"Juvia, come on a job with me."

"Why me?"

"Some men from phantom are giving young girls in town some problems when it gets dark. I thought you'd like to stick it to them and Master Jose as much as I would!"

Juvia thought about this for a few minutes and turned to Gray. "Im so sorry my love, I must go ...can you ever forgive me?"

"Yeah it's all good; go do what you got to do. Lucy and I got this."

_'Uh why did he say that?' _

_"_You better watch yourself you slut! Grays my love, so you better hide your deep feelings for my prince and focus on killing that over sized serpent okay!" Juvia whispered to Lucy

"Yes ma'am!" Lucy cowered.

Gajeel grinned as they walked off and laughed loudly, "I can't wait to see them piss their pants when a member of the Element Four and their Dragon Slayer show up to kick their asses."

As Juvia and Gajeel walked off together, Gray turned to Lucy and said, "So it's just you and me now...I guess you got what you wanted."

"What I wanted?"

"A piece of the Gray" Gray laughed rubbing the back of his neck. "I'm just kidding you know."

"I hope so," Lucy grins at him playfully, "because if you ever feel for me I don't know what I would do."

'_Hm,' _Gray thought to himself_, 'I never really thought about Lucy that way...I guess she is kind of cute.' _

"Gah." Grey jump when he realized that he was staring at Lucy.

"So where's this town?"

"Um I think it said it was in pine valley."

"Oh I know where that is. Come on!"

*on train to pine valley*

"It's a good thing Natsu's not here." Lucy said, for once enjoying the train ride.

"Ha yea, that idiot would be less then use full right now." Gray agreed with a laugh.

"You don't really give Natsu a fair chance." Lucy observed.

"Well you don't know him like I do...I hate the bastard but I know he's got my back if I ever get into something I can't handle."

"Wow I guess we don't really know each other all that well."

"What do you mean?"

"Well we only talk usually when Natsu and Erza are around so we really never actually talk unless it's about something in battle."

"Huh.I guess you're right. Oh hey Lucy what was it that you wanted to talk about?"

"What?"

"At your house, you said you could really use someone to talk to...well I don't know but if you want to...you can talk to me."

"It's nothing I'm just confused."

"Confused about what?"

"I really don't know actually…just some crazy dream I had."

"Oh well...what do you think about this job?" Lucy cringed at the thought of the job. '_It can't be the dream. It's just me and Gray...the dream had Natsu and Erza' _this train of thought eased Lucy because the thought of the dream becoming real terrified her.

Gray shrugged, meaning he knew no more than she did. Lucy sighed quietly and stared out the window. She had a still had a couple hours before she would know the truth anyways.


	2. Chapter 2

"Lucy…Lucy wake up we're almost there." Gray shook Lucy gently awake. Lucy found herself resting on Grays now bear chest, showing through his open purple and black button down shirt. Lucy sat up and yawned widely stretching her arms.

"How long was I asleep?"

"Only about hours… come on. We better get ready soon or we'll miss our stop." They collected their things and stood up, ready to get off the train. As the train began to slow down it hit a bump that sent Lucy flying into Gray, knocking both of them to the ground.

"Are you okay?" Gray said with a laugh.

"Yeah I'm fine I guess I'm just still a little tired."

"Why? Have you not been getting enough sleep?"

"No not really...it's that stupid dream."

"You want to tell me what this dream is about before you fall on me again?"

Lucy's face turned a bright pinkish feeling. "I think we should stick to the job for now." The two of them walk down the street in silence till Gray looked up and saw a sign written '3 VACANT ROOMS AVAILABLE'. Grey looked at Lucy who was reading the job request again.

"Oh come on your not reading that again?"

"Yeah I just don't understand…where do we go?"

"Well there's a giant snake attacking the town right?"

"Yeah."

"Well then I suggest we wait till the giant snake attacks."

"Wait where?" Gray grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her into the lobby of a old hotel. "Why are we getting a hotel?"

"Because… we don't know if this snakes going to attack tonight. But if you want to sleep on the street that's fine with me."

"Huh" Lucy's sighed "okay but you're paying." She giggled and sat in an empty chair behind her. Gray went up to the front desk and talked with the lady behind it. She gave Gray the key with a flirtatious giggle. "Enjoy your stay." She says with a smile. "I think that girl at the desk likes you."

Gray rubbed to back of his neck. "Ha no way, she was just being nice."

"No… didn't you see the way she was looking at you?"

"_Uh_…how was she looking at me?" Gray asked with a pail blush.

"Never mind" Lucy laughed, "If you didn't see it then you must be blind."

'_Uh why does she keep doing that? HOW does she keep doing that? It's like somehow even when she was talking about me and another girl she's still able to make me feel close to her. I don't understand.'_

Lucy and Gray walked through the door marked '3' and assessed the room. There's a TV on the opposite side of the room from the door. Next to that was the bathroom. Opposite from that, right next to the door lied one king size bed with a table on each side and lamps on those.

"It's so small," Lucy sighed as if it was shocking.

"What did you expect? This town's not even all that big, and from the looks of it, this place doesn't seem to get much business."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well didn't you notice that this room is the last one? Well the sign said 3 vacant rooms so it seems like we're the only ones here." Gray looked at Lucy when he realized what he had just said.

"Well then I guess we're their special customers." Lucy said giggling. '_It's that laugh. It's so enticing. This doesn't make any sense… why am I having these feelings all the sudden?'_

Lucy lied down on the bed and looked up at Gray. "What are you still doing in the door for? Come in silly."

"_Uh _okay" he said rubbing the back of his neck. He sat down on the bed next to Lucy and took off his backpack. He lied down next to her and they fell asleep as they shut their eyes.

Lucy woke up to the sound of the bathroom door opening. A wet Gray walked out. In his underwear like usual but Lucy didn't say anything. She kind of liked being alone with Gray. It made her feel safe. Not the same safe feeling that she gets from Natsu but more like the feeling she gets from… '_Loke'._

"So, no snake?" Lucy asked sitting up to realize Gray had tucked her under the covers while she was asleep.

"Nope nothing." Gray walked over and sat next to Lucy. "Do you think it will attack during the day?" Lucy asked hoping the answer was no. "No I don't think so."

"Then what are we going to do all day? Hmm…maybe I'll go take a bath." Lucy stood up and walked into the bathroom. Gray heard the Water start running and lied down on the bed. '_What am I going to do? None of this would be happening If Juvia had come with us. Uh I've got to do something. Do I tell her or do I just ignore it in hope of it being finished when the job is?' _

Gray got dressed and left the room to go for a walk. "Oh hey!" Gray heard a young sweet sounding voice calling to him. He turns around to find the girl from the front desk standing behind him. "Are you and you're girlfriend enjoying your stay?" The girl asked politely. "Oh she's not my girlfriend we're just on a job together."

"Well I'm sure that it might be more." The girl said with a grin. "How's that?" Gray asked blushing

"Well it's obvious you're in love with her." The girl chuckled."From the sound of last night I think she loves you to. But that's none of my business."

"_Uh_ I'm not in love with her! We're just friends…nothing more." Gray said waving his hands nervously. "Well I must be getting back to work now but anyways…bye Loke."

"_Eh _bye"

_'Loke? This must be about last night. She must have heard Lucy. Maybe she's right…maybe Lucy is in love with Loke. But Lucy wasn't just saying Loke last night. Uh what do I do now?' _Gray walked back into the room to find Lucy lying on the bed. He sat down next to her. She felt the bed sink when he did. Lucy sat up and looked at him. "Are you okay?" she asked concerned. "Lucy?...what was your dream about?"

"What?"

"The dream that keeps you up at night. The one that makes you fall over because your too tired to stand."

"Why do you want to know?"

"You woke me up last night."

"I did?"

"Yea…you were screaming and kicking and swing your arms like a whip."

"What was I screaming?"

"Loke's name as well as mine. You kept screaming my name and then for Loke and then you whispered mine and started to cry."

Lucy thought back to the dream she had last night. It wasn't the same dream as before. Like usual Lucy saw Erza and Natsu out cold but instead of Gray being out with them he was still fighting. As if Lucy was dreaming a little earlier than usual. She saw the snake come charging at Gray. Scared, She Ran toward him…screaming his name. Gray saw the snake and kept fighting but Lucy didn't stop screaming. The snake swung his tail forward and whipped Gray, sending him into the air and smack on a rock, falling limp next to Lucy's other unconscious friends. Lucy ran over to Gray's body. He had been taking a pretty hard beating and this seemed like the finishing move on him.

"Gray you have to wake up." Lucy shouted shaking Gray shoulder trying to revive him somehow. But the snake was coming at her and she had to do something. She pulled out her whip and slashed at the creature. She stood up and started to drag Gray away with her but he was too heavy. She dropped him and ran in the other direction. She looked over to see all her friends out cold in the dirt. She saw the snake leap high into the air and that's we're the dream progressed as usual. Loke appearing, Lion head of light, dead snake. But instead of a weak Lucy falling into Loke's arms Lucy stands up with shaking knees and begins to walk toward her friends.

"Lucy, where are you going?"

"I'm going to help my friends."

"You're too weak." Loke walked over and started to pick up Lucy. "Put me down."

"Why? So you can crawl? No way." Loke lifted her to her feet and wrapped one of her arms around his neck and his around her waist. He helped her hop over to Gray's body and Lucy rested her head on Gray's bear chest.

"Lucy are you okay?" Loke asked placing a hand on Lucy shoulder. "Can you help Loke? Can you wake them up? Can you wake _him_ up?" Loke crouched down next to Gray and picked him up. "Where are you going with him?"

"I'm saving him. " Loke replied as he and Gray began to disappear. Tears rolled down Lucy's cheeks as she screamed for Loke to bring him back but he was gone.

Lucy then crawled over to Natsu and Looked through her pockets for anything that could help. She found a book of matches from the hotel her and Gray stayed. She grabbed a match and stroke it till it lit a flame. She dropped the match into Natsu mouth. Nothing happened. "Please wake up Natsu…I need you!"

Lucy stroke another dropping it in his mouth. This time Natsu started to cough. "What the heck Lucy? I eat Fire not the gross card board it burns on." Lucy started to laugh but still harder tears ran down her face. "Natsu help please."

"With what? Are you okay?"

"Erza's out cold and Loke took Gray to the Spirit world." Natsu stood up in slight pain but he fought it. He put Lucy on his back and started to carry her toward town. "Where are we going?"

"To see a doctor, you look hurt."

"No I just used up a lot of magic energy... what about Erza?"

"I'll come back for her."

"No we can't leave her." Lucy pulled out her keys and Swiped one through the air. Taurus appeared next to her. "Please carry Erza behind us." Taurus nodded and picked her up. "Lucy do you really think you should be using more magic energy right now?" Lucy Yawned and closed her eyes. And that's when she woke up.

"Lucy, please. You want to talk to someone and there's someone that wants to hear right in front of you."

"It's too hard to explain." Lucy said looking up at Gray with tears welling in her eyes. Gray looked down at her. He looked deep into her hazel eyes.

"I'm not blind."

"What?" Gray Leaned in and kissed her.

"I'm so sorry. I don't know why I did that." Gray looked down at the ground in shame. Lucy placed her hand on his. He looked over at her. "It's okay." Lucy leaned in and kissed Gray again. That's when they heard a knock on the door. "Coming."

Gray opens the door to find Natsu and Erza standing outside. "Natsu! What the hell are you doing here?"

"What's the big deal? Are we interrupting?"

"No we're just waiting…how'd you even find us?"

"Juvia sent us, she said something about not having alone time with her prince…but I just see it as a way to kick some giant snake ass. Anyway we just walked around asking if people had seen you till this girl said you were here."

Lucy's eye's filled with terror as she realized that her dream was slowly coming true._ 'What am I going to do? Maybe if I change something about it then there's no way it could happen.' _

"I'm going on a walk." Lucy said with a fake smile. "Alright see you later." Natsu said confused. "What's going on?" Gray looked down at the ground rubbing the back of his neck. "Why do you have to ruin everything, Matchstick?!"

"What did I ruin?"

Gray paced back and forth a few times before shoving Natsu aside and walking out the door.

Lucy walked down the street trying to convince herself this wasn't happening. '_It was just a dream. There's no way it could come true. I can't tell the future. What if I changed it. If I change the scenario then there's no way it could happen.'_ Just then Lucy looked up to see an orange haired man in a suit leaning on the wall next to her. "Loke?" Loke looked up at Lucy and smiled.

"What are you doing here?"

"Well I'm always there for you when you need me right? Who says that battles are the only time you need me."

"I don't need you right now."

"You seem scared…are you okay?"

"Yea I Just…" Lucy looked down to hide her tears. "I'm terrified."

"What are you so afraid of? I would never let anything hurt you."

"It's not me I'm worried about…it's my friends. They weren't supposed to come and now I think they're in danger."

"Why? In danger of what?"

"The snake. I had this dream…"

"Lucy dreams are not to be taken lightly. And there now always yours, you have to tell me about this dream." So Lucy told Loke the whole dream, the first one at least. "And then I fell and you caught me. Then I…"

"Then you what?"

"Nothing… It's not important to the dream. What is important is that they get really hurt and I'm afraid that it might happen."

Loke placed his hands on Lucy's shoulders and pulled her close. "When did you start having this dream?"

"About a week ago…what did you mean when you said that dreams weren't always mine?"

"Well sometime's people are given visions, if you will, that come to them as a dream, warning them of a tragic or fateful encounter. Some time's they happen strictly because the person is trying to avoid that very event."

"So because I tried to just go on a job with Gray it's actually why it happened?"

"Well yes and no."

"But if I change something about it can't I stop it?"

"Maybe but situations can adapt."

"But in my dream you aren't there till the end right? Well maybe if you don't go back then it will be different?"

"I guess it could be different but there's always a possibility that I could just be out cold with the rest of them, and then who will save you? Or catch you when you fall and hear you whisper whatever it is you're supposed to tell me?"

"Please Loke? It's my last shot. If Gray…Or any of them got hurt I don't Know what I'd do."

"I'd do anything to make you feel safe."

"Oh thank you Loke!" Lucy wrapped her arms around Loke thanking him for following thru with her crazy plan. Gray walked around the corner and his eyes met Loke's. '_What? Uh this is all that dumb Flame Head's fault.' _

Loke and Lucy's embrace ended and they started to walk back to the hotel when Lucy saw Gray standing at the corner. She looked at Loke and said something he couldn't make out. She then walked over to Gray and looked up at him. "I'm scared Gray." She said with tears welling in her eyes. "I'm so scared of loosing you guys… of loosing you." She wiped the tears from her eye's and took a deep breath. "Loke's going to stay with all of us. It'll be like you guys are a team again and the rest of us are just here to back you up."

"No Lucy I can keep you safe. You don't have to be scared anymore. We don't need Loke or Natsu or Erza, I can protect you."

"Gray we're a team, all of us…"

"I know but I like tucking you in because you fall asleep as you sit down. And being your cushion when you fall" Gray Laughed, "and being afraid that Juvia might rip you're hair out for talking to me."

"Please Gray, just trust me on this."

"But …"

"Please."

"Okay but tell me one thing…you don't have any feeling's for Loke? Do you?"

"Let's go back to the room."

"Lucy, do you?"

"Maybe, and maybe I have feelings for you? But things don't happen that fast okay? I didn't even know you looked at any girl that way till about a half hour ago. That kiss didn't say I love you, it just said…" Lucy stood up on her tippy toes and kissed Gray again. "I'm doing this because I'm afraid of losing you. You can be mad, but I would rather see you safe and mad then dead and never get to see you again."

Loke walked up and put a hand on Lucy shoulder. "Am I interrupting?"

"No we're just going to go back to the hotel." Lucy said with a smile. Gray wrapped his arm around Lucy waist and pulled her close giving Loke a suspicious glance when Lucy looked away.

"Hey where have you guys been?"

"Out." Loke said watching Gray like a hawk. Lucy walked in and sat on the bed for about 5 minuets before turning to Erza. "I'm going to go take a bath, Erza do you want to come?"

"Okay, I could use a nice bath after slugging this fire happy nut job all over the place." Lucy and Erza walked into the bathroom leaving Natsu, Happy, Gray, and Loke alone. After about 2 minutes of Loke and Gray awkwardly avoiding eye contact and 5 of them glairing evilly from separate corners of the room, did Natsu and Happy step out to go get some food.

"Hey Happy, what the hell do you thinks' wrong with those two?"

"I don't know but they seemed mad."

'_Yea they did seem mad but what about? Lucy seemed pretty irritated to. And why is Loke hanging around? Isn't that just using up Lucy's magic energy?'_

_"_AHH HAPPY THINKING'S MAKING ME HUNGRY!"

"AYE!" The two of them find a small market that sell's all types of food…including fish. They buy as much as they could fit in two bags and began to walk back to the hotel.

"Do you think they'll all still be angry when we get back?"

"If they are then all this food will probably cheer them up."

"Aye."

"What are you staring at?" Gray said rudely and looking down at his shoe's. "Uh_, _nothing." Loke quickly glanced down at the floor. "Look gray Lucy…"

"I don't want to talk about it with you."

"But..."

"You don't even know her that well. You spent half the time she was around running away from her. Just …" Gray stopped when he heard the door from the bathroom start to open.

"What are we talking about?" Lucy said with a giggle. "Oh, uh, nothing."

"Where's Natsu?"

"Right here!" Natsu said as him and Happy burst through the door. "And we brought Food!" Happy said ecstatically.

"Ha ha good job."

"Well what are you waiting for? Let's eat." Lucy laughed and started to pick through the contents of the bag. Gray and Loke both settled on half a loaf of bread and Lucy had Natsu cook one of the fish for her. She sat on the bed and started to eat and Gray sat next to her more close than usual. Loke sat on the opposite side of the room looking down at his food the whole time he ate it. Natsu Happy ad Erza stood at the door for a few more moments before accepting the confusing situation and sitting down on the floor.

"Did you guy's hear that?" Loke stood up quickly and rushed to the window."Hear what?" Natsu said sitting up. "Come on." Loke said as he ran out the door. They all followed him into a huge clearing at the end of town. "Now what?'

"Look there." Loke pointed to a small part of town just in front of the clearing that was now a dust cloud. "Let's go." Natsu Erza and Happy ran ahead Gray tried to stay behind with Lucy until Loke reached back and grabbed her hand pulling along with him.

When they finally reached the area they found a lot of town already destroyed. "Um I just want to note to the master that the town was like this when we got here." Lucy said.

Natsu leaped up and blew fire at the snake, torching 3 houses in the process."Do you think he'll believe us?" Gray asked. At that he ran forward to Erza and attempted to freeze the snakes head to stall while Natsu caught his tail on fire. Erza leaped into action quickly while the snake was still distracted driving a sword into the snake. "Loke let's go, we have to help them." Lucy said slightly trembling because of her dream.

'_What if it comes true? What if Loke just gets knocked out with them? What if I don't know what to do after and I'm the only one left?' _

Loke reached into his pocket and pulled out a book of matched from the hotel. "Something tells me you might need these." He places them in her hand and turn's around running toward the slithering opponent. Lucy grab's her whip and goes at the creature wrapping it around his neck just at the edge of the ice. She yank's trying to pull the creature to the ground with no success. "Help someone." She cries out to her friends. Gray run's over and grabs a hold of the whip as well. "Ready? 1… 2… 3… pull."

The two of them brought the snake crashing to the ground. Gray then made a thick semi ring of ice over the snake tightly to hold it in place, and then two more just in case. The snake broke the ice that was slowly melting off his face but was still trapped under the temporary shackles.

The snake struggled for a while until going limp.

'_Wait that can't be all there is. Otherwise I was worried for nothing.'_ Lucy looked at Gray confused. "Well that was _too_ easy." Natsu said with a whine. "Wait…" Loke said. "Erza cut it open." Erza plunged the sword into the snake and pulled till she had cut it nearly open. Erza looked at the rest of them puzzled. "It's empty."

"Yea it's a skin." Loke replied. "But how did it move this whole time if it was just skin?" Lucy asked. "Well because up to the point where it went limp, it was the snake. It's a defensive thing, the can shed their skin and use it as a decoy. And they're fast…so fast none of us even noticed it had left."

"Oh I've heard of that it's called distraction magic." Happy said explaining further. "It's like a trade. In exchange for leaving the skin the snake has a certain amount of time to blend into it surrounding's."

"So where's the snake now?" Natsu groaned. "It's probably hiding from us." Gray said rubbing the back of his neck. "Now what?"

"Well I don't think that it will be coming back anytime soon so I suggest we go back to the hotel." They all started back to the hotel but Gray grabbed Lucy's hand and pulled her in the other direction. "What is it?" Lucy said trying to keep up with Gray's quick pace. He just keep pulling her along, he had a slight grin on his face and he seemed very quick like he knew this town like the back of his hand. They finally arrived at a small building that looked as though no one had lived there in a while.

"Where are we?"

"After Deliora was encased in ice and I headed to Fairy Tail to see if there was a way to save my teacher. Anyway I had to pass through this town and I stayed a few days. I slept in this house because nobody really cares about it."

"Why are you showing me this?" Gray looked down and grabbed hold of Lucy's hands, enclosing them in his. "I want this to be real Lucy. I want you to want me as much as I want you. And I don't want anything to hurt you."

"Why are you showing this to me? Why are you telling me this?"

"Because…" He pulled her in to the house and into a small room at the end of a narrow hall. He reached under a table to a small hole where the wall and the floor met. He pulled out a thin chain and hid it in this fist. "I love you Lucy." Gray said rubbing the back of his neck. He looked afraid of what she might say. But she didn't say anything, she just walked over to the dusty old table and in the dust she started to write. "No peeking!" she said with a giggle. "Turn around."

Gray turned around and walked to the wall. '_What is she writing? What if she telling me she's sorry, or that her heart belongs to Loke? Uh what did I do? I might have just ruined our friendship forever! What have I done?' _Lucy dusted off her hands and walked out the door. Gray walked over the table and started to read the dusty letters.

"_Gray,_

_You are one of my most valued friend's and I would hate to ever loose you. Love is a very strong word and it takes a lot to love someone. It take's passion and experience as well as knowing the person. It takes more than one day to love someone.'_

Then there was an arrow. He followed the arrow down the hall to another room where he found writing etched into the wall with a small rock that had still been there after someone through it though the window. Gray read the etching.

'_I have been a part of Fairy Tail for while and I have gone on many trips with you. Seeing all sides of you except this one. The only one I wanted to see since the day I met you. The side telling me that you love me to.'_

Gray's face lit up as he began to run out of the house to find Lucy. To hold her and kiss her and spin her around till they're to dizzy to stand. "GRAY!" He heard a scream from down the street calling to him. He raced out to see Lucy nowhere to be found. "LUCY!" Gray called out for her. His face expression skipped tears and went straight to pissed as he ran in the direction of the scream.

He turned the corner in time to see the snake slithering quickly away from town, and a determined Lucy with her whip around the snake's body like reins riding the snake to where ever it was slithering off to. "LUCY!" Gray called again fallowing the serpent's trail. He chased the two of them down to the clearing that Loke had brought them to before.

"Lucy, are you okay?" Lucy was about to reply when the snake whipped its body catching Lucy off guard and sending her flying across the clearing. Smacking her body on the hard dirt. She took a few painful breaths before seeing Gray over her. "Look out!" She said wincing at the pain. Gray was whipped by the snake's tail and thrown from Lucy line of vision. That's when Lucy felt her head getting light and her eye lids heavy. Lucy started to panic as everything started to fade to black.


End file.
